{Reefer Madness – The Musical plays on Saturday, August 30 and Sunday, September 1 at the Center House Theater from 6-7:15pm} 

If the stakes weren't so high and the repercussions so severe, the paranoia of the drug war would be hilarious. Or maybe it is funny – it is certainly a topic that lends itself to parody.

Reefer Madness started out as an exploitation film in 1936 that was designed to scare parents and their children about the dangers of smoking pot. Although scientifically inaccurate to the nth degree, the "concerns" haven't dissipated much and even medical marijuana patients risk getting their homes raided. (No pot smoker am I but have a consistent voting record of voting for every ballot measure to decriminalize and medicinalize marijuana I was eligible to vote for.)

But good camp lends itself well to musical form and I'm very anxious to see this local production of Reefer Madness (which was first made into an off-Broadway musical in 2001). The reviews this production has been getting from critics has been outstanding and it sounds like it will be a riot. Every year at Bumbershoot I feel like I inhale enough second-hand marijuana smoke that my ability to pass a drug test will be called into question; now I can finally laugh about that.